Claudio, Dino and Arturo

Original image by There Stands the Glass.

I place the over/under line on the number of compact discs I own at 5,000. Not only are there too many to count, the prospect of making the effort is depressing. A substantial portion of the square footage of my home is dedicated to the outmoded media format. Yet I just can’t stop accumulating. My local library system’s retail outlet sells CDs at ten cents a pop. How can I resist? Worse still, a radio station recently offered sealed classical box sets for $5 each. Consequently, I’m now the shamefaced owner of 23 CDs of vintage piano recordings by Claudio Arrau, Dino Lipatti and Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli.

EP Review: Midwestern- Reflections

Seemingly taking exception to elements of my rave review of Cartoon Network, a member of the Kansas City duo Midwestern gave me a bit of sass last year. The pushback failed to dampen my enthusiasm. I was pleased for Midwestern when I was informed the duo moved to Brooklyn. Midwestern refined its sound in New York. The new twenty-minute EP Reflections is slightly slicker and a bit less abrasive than Cartoon Network. Fans of Yeezus, early Odd Future and 101 Gecs are likely to share my admiration of tomorrow’s sounds today. In the meantime, I’m looking forward to entertaining objections to this miniature missive.

Album Review: Sisso and Maiko- Singeli Ya Maajabu

All I wanted for my birthday this year was to hear something new. The possibility of encountering music unlike anything I’ve previously experienced is among the things motivating me to get out of bed each day. The Tanzanian artists Sisso and Maiko granted my wish on the anniversary of my arrival on the planet. Singeli Ya Maajabu sizzles with the thrill of the new. The singeli based blend of dubstep, hyperpop and footwork is more than a magical novelty. The manic noise sounds like a video game arcade in which all of the patrons are visiting either the brothel upstairs or the adjacent candy store. Should I defy the actuary tables, I could be in Dar es Salaam this time next year.

Concert Review: Nick Luby and Susan Zhang at Meadowbrook Park

Original image by There Stands the Glass.

I don’t believe I’d heard a Meredith Monk composition performed in the Kansas City area until Thursday, May 9. An unexpectedly daring concert at Meadowbrook Park surprised me. Unpromisingly billed as The Concert Truck, I’d supposed the Midwest Trust Center-sponsored piano duo of Nick Luby and Susan Zhang would present land-locked cruise ship pabulum.

Yet rather than covers of Billy Joel and Journey, the tandem’s impeccable setlist included compositions by Samuel Barber, Maurice Ravel, Béla Bartok, Meredith Monk, John Adams, William Grant Still and George Gershwin. Only “Rhapsody in Blue” seemed like a compromise. My date said Gershwin’s piece is still “trying to decide what it wants to be,” the most incisive commentary I’ve encountered during the composition’s centenary.

The informal setting negated a proper assessment of the quality of the playing. Distortion in the amplified sound, percussive thwacking from nearby pickleball courts and the shrieks of happy children muddled what may very well have been an otherwise impeccable performance.

Album Review: John Adams- Girls of the Golden West

John Adams’ operas Nixon in China and Doctor Atomic stupefied my ears and expanded my mind. How is it possible it took the recent Nonesuch Records release of the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s reading of Girls of the Golden West to make me aware of the Adams work that premiered in 2017? 

Giacomo Puccini set his 1910 opera La Fanciulla del West amid the American gold rush. (Unlike Girls of the Golden West, it’s an opera I’ve had the pleasure of watching.) Adams successfully refreshes the theme. Girls of the Golden West is so catchy I elected to listen a third time while mowing my lawn yesterday. The valuable time slot had been dedicated to Beyoncé since March 29. 

The shared Western theme aside, the opera is obviously quite not as “country” as Cowboy Carter. Girls of the Golden West more closely resembles an avant-garde “Oklahoma” starring the impeccable Julia Bullock.  Adams’ vigorous pieces about greed, sex and violence at a mining camp are well suited to a sweaty workout in the Kansas humidity.

Album Review: Mdou Moctar- Funeral for Justice

The several John Lee Hooker performances I attended in the 1980s seem like delirious dreams at this late date. The blues master put me in trances at the most mesmerizing of those club shows. The aggressive boogie of Funeral for Justice, the new album by Mdou Moctar, recalls that halcyon era. The surface elements may be dramatically different, but the boogie at the core of the sound of Hooker and Moctar is essentially the same. Just as my pals and I once relished getting “shook with the Hook,” my life is now enlivened by being “delivered by Doctor Moctar.”

Album Review: Quatuor Danel- Dmitri Shostakovich: The Complete String Quartets

I shouldn’t be surprised by my uncharacteristic passion for Quatuor Danel’s six-hour and twenty-minute Dmitri Shostakovich: The Complete String Quartets. Reading Jeremy Eichler’s Time’s Echo: The Second World War, The Holocaust, and the Music of Remembrance primed the pump last year. The study schooled me about the constraints imposed upon and the compromises made by the Russian composer. Secondly, a methodical investigation of all forms of classical music put Wigmore Hall on my radar during the pandemic. Attending performances at the hallowed institution last month felt like a celebratory graduation ceremony. Immediately upon returning to Kansas, a livestream of Quatuor Danel at Wigmore Hall made me aware of the ensemble’s latest release. I was finally prepared to receive a large dose of Shostakovich. Thorough social and political histories of Russia in the twentieth century are contained in Quatuor Denel’s vehement new interpretation of Shostakovich’s string quartets.

May Flowers

I’m proud of my May concert recommendations feature for Kansas City’s NPR affiliate KCUR. Notices about the prominent appearances of stars are balanced by previews of outings by relatively unknown artists. A healthy range of genres and venues is represented. Far from regurgitations of sanctioned talking points, my occasionally deprecatory commentary will never be mistaken for AI-generated claptrap. A Midwestern outlier, I don’t grant favors to friends or attempt to curry favor with artists, publicists or venue owners. But it’s not all about me. While I don’t care for the music made by my tenth and final selection, I acknowledge the significance of his concert for much of the KCUR audience.

April 2024 Recap: A Monthly Exercise in Critical Transparency

Screenshot of the trailer for Garsington Opera’s production of Richard Strauss’ “Ariadne auf Naxos” by There Stands the Glass.

The Top Ten Albums of April

1. Oren Ambarchi- Ghosted II
Scary good.

2. Fred Hersch- Silent, Listening
The pianist’s best.

3. أحمد (Ahmed)- Wood Blues
Ahmed Abdul-Malik lives.

4. Bill Frisell- Orchestras
What a time to be alive!

5. Parsnip- Behold
Hocus pocus.

6. Meshell Ndegeocello- Red Hot & Ra: The Magic City
A one-way trip to Saturn.

7. José James- ​​1978
My bespoke catnip.

8. Kilian Herold- Serenade: Works for Clarinet and Strings by Krenek, Gál and Penderecki
In which I discovered Ernst Krenek.

9. Nia Archives- Silence Is Loud
The groovy poets’ department.

10. Skilla Baby- The Coldest
Detroit vs. everybody.

The Top Ten Songs of April

1. Fat White Family- “Visions of Pain”
“Águas De Março” fermented.

2. Arooj Aftab- "Raat Ki Rani"
Smooth operator.

3. Shabaka- "As the Planets and the Stars Collapse"
Astral projecting.

4. Staples Jr. Singers- “Lost In a World of Sin”
On bended knee.

5. Kamasi Washington featuring George Clinton and D Smoke- "Get Lit"
Hit it and quit it.

6. Mabel- "Vitamins"
Restorative.

7. Eliza Rose- "Lovesome"
Dream house.

8. Anitta- "Lose Ya Breath"
Steam bath.

9. Chino Pacas- “Tunechi”
Tha block is hot.

10. St. Vincent- “Big Time Nothing”
The best track on a disappointing album.

The Top Ten Performances of April

1. Véronique Gens and Susan Manoff at Wigmore Hall (London)
My Instagram snapshot.

2. Mozart’s “Missa Solemnis”, Peter Schipka, Choralschola der Wiener Hofburgkapelle, Wiener Sängerknaben and Wiener Staatsoper, at Wiener Hofmusikkapelle (Vienna)
My Instagram clip.

3. Georges Bizet’s “Carmen” at Wiener Staatsoper (Vienna)
My Instagram snapshot.

4. Joe Lovano, Marilyn Crispell and Carmen Castaldi at Wigmore Hall (London)
My review.

5. Franz Schubert’s Messe in C-Dur, Markus Landerer, conductor, at Stephansdom (Vienna)
My Instagram snapshot.

6. Mike, 454, Niontay and El Cousteau at recordBar
My Instagram clip.

7. Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “The Sound of Music” at Volksoper (Vienna)
My Instagram snapshot.

8. Steve Hackett’s “Genesis Revisited” at the Uptown Theater
My Instagram clip.

9. Eddie Moore, Ben Tervort and Jalen Ward at Yardley Hall
My Instagram snapshot.

10. Marvin Gruenbaum, John Blegen, Kent Brauninger and Nils Aardahl at the Market at Meadowbrook
My Instagram clip.

The previous monthly recap is here.

Wien

Original image by There Stands the Glass.

I found my people during my first visit to Vienna. Like me, the inhabitants of the spectacular Austrian city tend to be fastidious, disdainful and aloof. The clean streets are filled with bookstores, ice cream parlors and cafés. I’d fit in rather well if I learned to speak German, dressed much better and lost fifteen pounds. Not insignificantly, music is an integral aspect of Viennese culture. For the first time in years I didn’t feel put out by going more than two weeks without playing pre-recorded music. Echoes of the concerts and music-themed masses I attended involuntarily played on repeat in my head. I’m home now. Based on the throes of ecstasy ignited by new albums by Ahmed, Oren Ambarchi and Bill Frisell, the break refreshed my ears.